can i have a Noah and a jonah?

[Pippafisher]

I currently have an Eleanor (Ellie) and a Noah and am expecting ds2 in six weeks time. I love the name Jonah, but my dh says it is too close to noah. What do you think? I suggested Jonathan with nn Jonah, but he is still not convinced. Ideas or suggestions please!

I'm interested in the theory that non-religious people shouldn't use biblical names, or should curb their use of them at one name only. I'm a Christian and whilst I have reservations about non-religious people getting married in church, for example, just because they want a lovely photo background, it's never really occurred to me that people would think it inappropriate for non-believers to use names that occur in the bible.

Sorry, forgot to chime in on the names! Eleanor, Noah and Jonah are all lovely and I don't think they're too similar. Would you shorten Jonah to Joe?

Laquila, I'm gobsmacked actually and it seems a very arrogant statement to make. Whatever people believe, at the end of the day it's a book about people and they are just names. I wouldn't get upset at people wanting to call their child after a character in my favourite book if they hadn't read it or after a character in a TV programme if they weren't a fan.

No-one owns the right to a name. It's just a name.

onemum I read Laquila's comment to be the same view as yours? She said she didn't necessarily think people should get married in church if not religious (I agree) but it hasn't occurred to her that using biblical names would be an issue. It doesn't sound like she has a problem with it at all.

I have a nephew Charlie that my brother makes no bones about the fact that he is names after Charlie Chalk because he loved him so much as a kid

Sorry, typo in your name! But you're right. One is never enough!!

Yes, I read Laquilas the same, it was a PP upthread that implied that OP shouldn't be using biblical names unless she was religious and then declared it all to be fine when the OP said she was a Christian. Laquila and I are on the same page in this I think. :) I hope it didn't come across that I was disagreeing with her as that wasn't intended.

and Charlie is a great name. :) And yes, one is never enough. That harks back to pregnancy days when I would buy two boxes of 3 as it was usually buy one get one free. I'd eat one, then want another. Then that would leave one in the box and I'd worry that DP would know I'd eaten two so I'd eat the third and hide the empty box. Later on it would occur to me that I could eat one more and it would look like I'd only had one from the box....... I did that more than once!

That would be me

My point was really unless you have a great interest in something why would you take 2 names so obviously associated with it. One name. Not so much. I would think the same if one chose Laertes and Ophelia if they had no interest in Shakespeare or indeed Russell Hobbes and Breville with no interest in electricals

But the names are associated with more than just the bible. It's not like no-one else in the world has ever used those. The names appear in many other things that the OP may be interested in.

For example using the name Luke could be from the bible, it could also be from Star wars, it could be from your Great Uncle Luke or from an ex-colleague's child who you met or you could have randomly picked it from a baby book because you liked the sound or it went well with your surname etc etc

Your posts definitely implied that if you weren't religious you shouldn't use a name from the bible. I see you've clarified that you mean in multiple but I don't think that really changes it.

It's interesting how times change.

At my school, calling someone 'a Jonah' was an insult as it meant you were a bringer of bad luck.

I really like the name ad I'm glad people no longer think this way.

I love the name Angus! Fabulous name. I would use it like a shot if I could claim even the most tenuous connection to Scotland.

By the way I do think the names Noah and Jonah are lovely. There was a Jonah in my favourite Dick Francis story he was a lovely man.